Why Can't I Finish My Novel? Episode 289: A Coaching Call with Ophir Lehavy

Why can&#8217;t I finish my novel?<br/><br/>KJ here, and when I saw that heartfelt cry in our Facebook Group, I knew we had to answer. Because finishing is hard, y&#8217;all. It&#8217;s harder than starting. It&#8217;s harder than showing up to the page. There comes a moment in so many projects when the wheels are spinning but the Matchbox car just isn&#8217;t going anywhere.<br/><br/>Ophir Lehavy is a coach herself, working with students to help them find ways to get their work done and feel more successful about it&#8212;so she knew the benefits of having someone else try to help you tease out the things that are getting in your way. There are many reasons for feeling stuck or stymied, but they often boil down to two things: feeling unable to take time away from other things, or being able to take the time&#8212;but not knowing what to do next. <br/><br/>We talk about both, and drill down hard on moving from one stage of a project to another, when the rhythm and goal have changed and you can&#8217;t simply keep doing what you&#8217;re doing&#8212;and come up with strategies to get Ophir, or anyone who&#8217;s stalled out, back on the road. <br/><br/>If you&#8217;ve got a coachable problem, we&#8217;d love to hear from you! Email us at <a href="mailto: amwriting@substack.com">amwriting@substack.com</a>. We can&#8217;t promise to answer every email, but if your question is one that many listeners share and we can help with, we&#8217;ll try to answer it on the podcast, and we might even invite you on so we can really dig in.<br/><br/>Links from the pod:<br/><br/><a href="https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9780316013260">Julie and Julia</a>: The book and the movie.<br/><br/><a href="https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9780525537311">Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done</a> by Jon Acuff<br/><br/><a href="https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9781328764522">How to Write an Autobiographical Novel</a> & <a href="https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9780544916128">Edinburgh</a> by Alexander Chee<br/><br/>Jennie Nash&#8217;s <a href="https://bookshop.o